Mary

Mary Lucille Fuller Walker 1943 - 1996
Lillian’s tribute to her mother Mary.

My mother would always tell me don’t quit. Things will get tough, and it maybe an uphill journey, but never ever quit. Keep your eyes on the prize. To demonstrate this, when I graduated from high school she gave me a doll that was dressed as a graduate holding a diploma. When my mother was first diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1992 there was a 85% survival rate. This along with the fact that I was 17 years old allowed my mind to wonder and not think that my mother would die one day. My mother was a kindergarten teacher. She had taught in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s school system since she was sixteen years old. She also taught sacrament classes at our church, and was active in our community. Because she was so busy with work, community, and family she did not go to the doctor when she really needed to. When she went the doctor she was referred to the gynecologist and then she was diagnosed with cervical cancer.

My mother went through chemotherapy and a hysterectomy but because I was graduating from high school and she was eager to get back to work and she kept going on with her family duties and community obligations. In 1995, her cancer came out remission. Always an optimist she preceded teaching her students until she was not able to any longer and she finally had to rest. She told me that when she dreamt she would dream about teaching the children in her kindergarten class room again. Unfortunately, on March 31 1996 she passed away.

Mary Lucille Fuller Walker may have been gone from my life for 11 years but I know that I will always carry on her legacy. I really can not quit. If I can tell more young women to go and take advantage of free or low income health care providers in their community like Planned Parenthood, if I can make sure that people know about HPV, and if I can tell everyone to cherish their mother because I wouldn’t want anyone to have a life with out one, I feel like I have fulfilled my mother’s legacy and that I have not quit.